Thursday, September 8, 2011

A New Crib in the Canyon for Flockhart and Ford

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Way back in early December 2010 a gabby informant we named Julie Justwantstotellyou told Your Mama that Oscar-nominated actor Harrison Ford (Star Wars, Raiders of the Los Ark) and his slip of a third wife actress CalistaFlockhart (Brothers & Sisters, Ally McBeal) had spent many millions for a new mansion in the upscale, celebrity friendly Brentwood area of Los Angeles, CA.

We promptly filed the matter in the back of our cluttered celebrity real estate mind for later use. Of course, we completely forgot about it until last week when we ran into MizJustwantstotellyou who snitched and tattled all over again about how Mister Harrison and MizFlockhart dumped twelve and a half million clams on a huge new house in Brentwood.

Property records we peeped show that in late September 2010 Mister Harrison and MizFlockhart actually paid $12,650,000 for the recently completed mansion tucked privately into a secluded section of Brentwood's rustic, exclusive, and hideously expensive Mandeville Canyon area. A few quick flicks of the well-worn beads on Your Mama's bejeweled abacus shows that Mister Harrison and MizFlockhart wisely paid almost 20% less than the $15,895,000 at which the recently erected residence was priced in March 2010 and just about 10% less than the last known asking price of of $13,895,000.

The decidedly traditional house sits behind electronic gates that glide open to reveal a large motor court that spreads out like a concrete desert in front of the house and front-facing attached three car garage. Your Mama has to wonder if there might have been a more elegant car storage solution that would have allowed for the garage doors to face a different direction so that the first thing one sees upon driving through the gates of your nearly thirteen million dollar mansion is not a god damn trio of garage doors. Yes, children, those garage doors each probably cost as much as a Mercedes but for our twelve-plus million dollars–and we do not have twelve million dollars to toss around on a house–we do not want to look at garage doors all the time. Your Mama also has our fingers crossed that Mister Harrison–a former professional cabinet maker known to have a discerning eye for the correctness of details when it comes to architecture, design and day-core–has at least considered the replacement of the concrete motor court with pea gravel, a dee-voonly auditory material that better and more authentically suits the style of the house.

The multi-winged mansion appears to Your Mama's uneducated but still grossly opinionated architectural eye to have been purposefully designed to look a bit wonky on the exterior, like a somewhat modest East Coast Colonial to which the owners added and reconfigured rooms as their financial fortunes improved. The huge house, built brand new from the ground up and completed in 2010, coils snugly around a central courtyard that softens the transition between the relative unfriendliness of the parking lot sized motor court with it's big ol' garage doors and the warm civilities of the luxurious and dignified but purposefully casual interior spaces.

Guests and residents who cross the courtyard at the front of the house enter through an intimate vestibule that explodes into a grand double height entrance hall partially ringed by a second floor gallery. The more formal public rooms include a wood-paneled library and a ballroom-sized living room with exceptionally wide planked wood floors, a wood burning fireplace flanked by large windows, and a series of French doors that open to a covered outdoor living area. In addition to a fireplace, the formal dining room has a view of the backyard through transom-topped multi-pane windows and French doors the stretch from wall to wall and extend from the floor almost to the ceiling.

The extra wide plank wood floors unify the formal areas with the family's private living spaces that include a gigantic game room at the front of the house and a colossal center island eat-in kitchen at the heart and back of the house with both marble and mahogany counter tops, top-grade commercial style appliances, and white glass fronted Shaker-style cabinetry. A wide pass through connects the kitchen to a glassed-in breakfast room that in turn opens to the patios and terraces that run along the back of the house. An adjoining family room has a fireplace and a wide wall of French doors that merge the family quarters with the primary dining and entertainment terrace that extends off the back of the house and surrounds the swimming pool and spa.

Light floods into a second family room on the second floor through a bank of windows and a small oculus fitted into the vaulted ceiling. A long ridge line sky light references and pays clear homage to the coveted Cliff May-designed California ranch houses sprinkled throughout Mandeville Canyon that often feature strategically-placed ridge line sky lights as one of the masterful architect's signature elements.

The celebrity-style second floor master suite has a bedroom, private sitting room with fireplace and full wall of built-in book shelves plus a nearby paneled office with balcony. There's another meandering balcony that overlooks the back yard, substantial closet space and two deluxe bathrooms. The mister's sizable facility, a wood-paneled men's clubby space, features a room-sized shower bathed in brown and white-veined marble while the lady of the house is meant to ablute and etc. in an even larger bathroom swaddled in mirrors and pale gray veined white marble.

The back of the house spills out to an interconnected series of covered patios and open terraces that hug the rear façade and link the interior areas with the good-sized but hardly humongous back yard. Naturally, there's a built-in fire pit and a soccer pitch-sized square of lawn divides the swimming pool, elevated spa and built-in barbecue center from the detached structure that houses the screening room and guest/staff suite.

Property records (and The Bizzy Boys at Celebrity Address Aerial) reveal that Mister Harrison has long owned several other homes in Los Angeles including a 3,530 square foot house in Encino he bought in 1997 for $1,515,000 and another in the Rancho Park area (near Century City) that's 1,855 square feet with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, that he bought in 1985 for just $78,045. Possibly these are investments, maybe they're occupied by ex-wives or children, perhaps they're little more than expensive storage facilities, family offices or housing for domestic assistants.

In the summer of 1983, probably around the time he and his Oscar nominated second wife Melissa Mathison (E.T., The Black Stallion) went splitsville, Mister Harrison paid $1,000,000 for a 7,164 square foot Country Colonial in the Brentwood. The house sits high above the street in the southern shadow of The Getty, which was not there sitting like a shining city on a hill back in 1983. Anyhoo, Mister Harrison's house in Brentwood was originally designed by noted architect Gerard Colcord and it remains to be seen if he'll sell his architectural gem or if his heart strings will have him to hold fast to the meticulously restored real estate treasure.

Mister Harrison also maintains an 800-acre ranch outside of rugged and drop dead gorgeous Jackson, WY as well as a 5,664 square foot prairie-like penthouse in lower Manhattan that he bought in October 2001 for $5,295,000 and has had on the market since early December 2010 with a $16,000,000 price tag.

We're not really sure why Mister Harrison would choose to shake up his real estate portfolio in such a significant way all at the same time. However, if we've said it once we've said it 99 times: Amongst the rich and/or famous a new spouse often means a new house. We find this entirely unscientific celebrity real estate theory often holds true even for folks who lived contentedly in unmarried sin for years as did Mister Harrison and MizFlockhart before June 2010 when they hitched their wagons in the eyes of God and government after 7 or 8 long years of unwed coupledom and child rearing; She has an adopted child that he co-parents and he has four adult children and at least three grandchildren from his previous two marriages.

Well, no wonder they wanted a bigger house. Count 'em up, puppies. The Harrison-Flockharts are more than two dozen people for Sunday family dinner with just their immediate family not to mention any ex-wives, in-laws, close friends and other relatives who might stop in for a top-shelf boozy beverage and private chef-prepared nibble.

Anyhoo, someone whose not, as far as we know, changing up her property portfolio with such vigor as Mister Harrison is MizFlockhart. Since the late 1990s, when she starred on Ally McBeal as a love-starved young attorney with an overly insistent biological clock that took the form of a disturbing dancing baby, Miz Flockhart has owned a 2,870 square foot house on a quiet cul-de-sac in the flats of L.A.'s affluent Brentwood area. Records show she paid $1,400,000 for the property. We're not sure what goes on at this house now but some years back she put the high-hedged, gated and fully secured 3 bedroom and 2.5 bathroom Cape Cod-style crib on the rental market at $10,000 per month.

I just don't get the garage. What the heck? For that much money, put the damn garage somewhere ELSE or at least disguise it and place the doors on another side at the very least. Shame shame shame. xoxoLaLu

Harrison probably purchased this pile when he saw the blue dining room..blue is said to stimulate the appetite and Mrs. Flockhart sure needed some stimulatin. This home is a perfect example of a builder working with out a designer or great architect in the process. A garage as a focal point?

The grossly misplaced garage is an example of another issue - there's no "back of the house." Mama, I'm not an architectural history buff, I know nada, but a large home needs a back. That's where cars are kept, deliveries are made, and food is prepared. If the Ford-Flockharts plan to entertain, it seems preparation will take place within sight and smelling distance of any guest who wanders by. Anon 9-9 5:03p is on the money re "a builder working without a designer or great architect in the process." Looks like a blow up of the old suburban great room/open kitchen McMansion.

In contrast, Jennifer Aniston's Ohana had what looked like a semi-pro catering kitchen tucked out of the way. Smart!

You people kill me picking to death every single house Mama shares with us. This house is NEW and inviting and just down right lovely. It has comfortable written all over it. I love it, and I bet Harrison and his wife, too, could care less about the darn garages.

Thanks, Mama, and I still want to know more about Maria Shriver's new home.

I agree with Mama. The fact that these garage doors are front facing AND the garage itself is the most prominent feature extending well beyond the rest of the facade is unfortunate. I don't think it's a new construction design decision most would make, especially at it's price point, but apparently this proves some people DO find garages and their doors an esthetically pleasing focal point.

To me, the front of the house looks like it could be the back or side of the house. It's pretty plain and architecturally boring IMO. I'm a car guy and even I wouldn't have placed the garage there if indeed that truly is the front of the house.

On the other hand, as a former real estate photographer I know that a picture is not usually a good representation of what the actually property/layout is like. You really have to see it in person before making an honest judgement.